Atheist

davidspitzer · 03-28-2011, 06:17 PM

Besides Dawkins (already have a couple of his books) what other really good titles on atheism have you come across or can recommend

hidari · 03-28-2011, 06:27 PM

Christopher Hichin's " God is not Great" is a fairly new and somewhat-known work....

hidari · 03-28-2011, 06:29 PM

As for Dawkins... I find his books On Evolution more interesting than his books on religion....

DavidRM · 03-28-2011, 07:30 PM

"Atheism, Ayn Rand & Other Heresies" I forget the author. I enjoyed the book, though.

-David

WilliamVitka · 03-28-2011, 08:45 PM

Hitchens' book is definitely a winner. I also found myself enjoying The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason, by Victor J Stenger.

WT Sharpe · 03-28-2011, 09:10 PM

Atheism: The Case Against God by George H. Smith is good, and it's available in a Kindle edition.

doreenjoy · 03-29-2011, 12:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WilliamVitka

Hitchens' book is definitely a winner. I also found myself enjoying The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason, by Victor J Stenger.

Thanks for this recommendation.

doreenjoy · 03-29-2011, 01:24 AM

Found a few here in the MR library. The links are the EPUB/LRF versions, but other formats are available.

Good Sense without God:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24502

Shelley's "The Necessity of Atheism"
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...hlight=atheism

Brooks' "The Necessity of Atheism":
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22061

mrsquash · 03-29-2011, 02:16 AM

"Letter to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris is quite good and is available as an ebook. It's rather short; you can probably get through it in a couple of hours.

mldavis2 · 03-29-2011, 07:11 AM

"Demon Haunted World" by Carl Sagan.

Hatgirl · 03-29-2011, 03:37 PM

If you want to dip into fiction, Terry Pratchett's "Truckers" and its two sequels are actually what introduced me to the concept of atheism when I was a child.

spellbanisher · 03-29-2011, 04:45 PM

Not a book, but a Free Man's Worship, by Bertrand Russell, is a brilliant and beautiful essay. You can get it here at mobileread.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79595

The essay was actually a part of a larger collection called Mysticism and Logic.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24102

He has also written a famous essay called "Why I am Not A Christian," which you can read online.

Here is the second paragraph from the essay:

How, in such an alien and inhuman world, can so powerless a creature as Man preserve his aspirations untarnished? A strange mystery it is that Nature, omnipotent but blind, in the revolutions of her secular hurryings through the abysses of space, has brought forth at last a child, subject still to her power, but gifted with sight, with knowledge of good and evil, with the capacity of judging all the works of his unthinking Mother. In spite of death, the mark and seal of the parental control, Man is yet free, during his brief years, to examine, to criticise, to know, and in imagination to create. To him alone, in the world with which he is acquainted, this freedom belongs; and in this lies his superiority to the resistless forces that control his outward life.

chrisarippel · 04-02-2011, 10:23 PM

Robert Ingersoll was an agnostic and great speaker in the 19th Century.

Dan Barker is an ex-evangelist turned atheist author and leader of the movement.

Bart Erhman is an ex-evangelist turned agnostic Bible-history professor and author.

All have written interesting books worth reading.

You might also enjoy Mark Twain's "The Mysterious Stranger" and "Letters from the Earth".

AlexBell · 04-03-2011, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisarippel

You might also enjoy Mark Twain's "The Mysterious Stranger" and "Letters from the Earth".

And The War Prayer.

Regards, Alex

Hamlet53 · 04-03-2011, 07:37 AM

This is an interesting thread. Thank you to all who have provided links to books I was not aware of. However, I would like to pose a related question.

I actually have never felt the need to justify my atheism. To me atheism has always been the simplest and most logical baseline. It should be incumbent on those who tout some of the more outlandish beliefs of various religions to provide justification for that.

On the other hand I don't see much point in books that are hostile to religion. Having read Dawkins and Hitchens I find that they, and Hitchens in particular, put too much blame on religion for the world's woes. Yes, Christianity has caused a lot of death and destruction, but nothing compared to that caused by greed and bigotry.

What I am more interested in is a book that discusses why so many people still believe in religion. I recall reading an article some time ago that suggested that this believe actually was part of our evolution. That belief in supernatural reward and punishment in this life, and perhaps even more important in an imagined limitless afterlife (there's and oxymoron for you

), helped coerce our evolutionary ancestors into behaviors that had rewards for species survival. I would be interested in a book that provided an expanded discussion of that idea.

03-28-2011, 06:17 PM	#1
davidspitzer So Many Words to Read! Posts: 411 Karma: 125665 Join Date: Aug 2006 Device: Kindle	Atheist Besides Dawkins (already have a couple of his books) what other really good titles on atheism have you come across or can recommend

04-02-2011, 10:23 PM	#13
chrisarippel Chris Rippel, Kansas Posts: 12 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Great Bend, Kansas Device: Nook Classic, Droid X Nook and Kindle, PC Nook and Kindle	Agnostic authors Robert Ingersoll was an agnostic and great speaker in the 19th Century. Dan Barker is an ex-evangelist turned atheist author and leader of the movement. Bart Erhman is an ex-evangelist turned agnostic Bible-history professor and author. All have written interesting books worth reading. You might also enjoy Mark Twain's "The Mysterious Stranger" and "Letters from the Earth".

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03-28-2011, 06:27 PM	#2
hidari MR Drone Posts: 1,613 Karma: 15612282 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: DRONEZONE Device: PB360+, Huawei MP5, Libra H20	Christopher Hichin's " God is not Great" is a fairly new and somewhat-known work....

03-28-2011, 06:29 PM	#3
hidari MR Drone Posts: 1,613 Karma: 15612282 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: DRONEZONE Device: PB360+, Huawei MP5, Libra H20	As for Dawkins... I find his books On Evolution more interesting than his books on religion....

03-28-2011, 07:30 PM	#4
DavidRM Addict Posts: 203 Karma: 1007768 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma Device: Kindle	"Atheism, Ayn Rand & Other Heresies" I forget the author. I enjoyed the book, though. -David

03-28-2011, 08:45 PM	#5
WilliamVitka Word Puncher Posts: 35 Karma: 40001 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: New York City Device: Sony eReader, Kindle	Hitchens' book is definitely a winner. I also found myself enjoying The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason, by Victor J Stenger.

03-28-2011, 09:10 PM	#6
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,073 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	Atheism: The Case Against God by George H. Smith is good, and it's available in a Kindle edition.

03-29-2011, 01:24 AM	#8
doreenjoy 01000100 01001010 Posts: 1,889 Karma: 2400000 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Polyamorous	Found a few here in the MR library. The links are the EPUB/LRF versions, but other formats are available. Good Sense without God: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24502 Shelley's "The Necessity of Atheism" https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...hlight=atheism Brooks' "The Necessity of Atheism": https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22061

03-29-2011, 02:16 AM	#9
mrsquash Connoisseur Posts: 78 Karma: 648 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: USA Device: K4-NT, Sony T1	"Letter to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris is quite good and is available as an ebook. It's rather short; you can probably get through it in a couple of hours.

03-29-2011, 07:11 AM	#10
mldavis2 Coffee Nut Posts: 410 Karma: 298350 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Missouri Device: Kindle 3; K4PC; Calibre	"Demon Haunted World" by Carl Sagan.

03-29-2011, 03:37 PM	#11
Hatgirl Addict Posts: 296 Karma: 955301 Join Date: Oct 2008 Device: Sony PRS-300, Sony PRS-T2, Kindle (7th Gen)	If you want to dip into fiction, Terry Pratchett's "Truckers" and its two sequels are actually what introduced me to the concept of atheism when I was a child.

03-29-2011, 04:45 PM	#12
spellbanisher Guru Posts: 826 Karma: 6566849 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Bay Area Device: kindle keyboard, kindle fire hd, S4, Nook hd+	Not a book, but a Free Man's Worship, by Bertrand Russell, is a brilliant and beautiful essay. You can get it here at mobileread. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79595 The essay was actually a part of a larger collection called Mysticism and Logic. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24102 He has also written a famous essay called "Why I am Not A Christian," which you can read online. Here is the second paragraph from the essay: How, in such an alien and inhuman world, can so powerless a creature as Man preserve his aspirations untarnished? A strange mystery it is that Nature, omnipotent but blind, in the revolutions of her secular hurryings through the abysses of space, has brought forth at last a child, subject still to her power, but gifted with sight, with knowledge of good and evil, with the capacity of judging all the works of his unthinking Mother. In spite of death, the mark and seal of the parental control, Man is yet free, during his brief years, to examine, to criticise, to know, and in imagination to create. To him alone, in the world with which he is acquainted, this freedom belongs; and in this lies his superiority to the resistless forces that control his outward life.

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04-03-2011, 07:37 AM	#15
Hamlet53 Nameless Being	This is an interesting thread. Thank you to all who have provided links to books I was not aware of. However, I would like to pose a related question. I actually have never felt the need to justify my atheism. To me atheism has always been the simplest and most logical baseline. It should be incumbent on those who tout some of the more outlandish beliefs of various religions to provide justification for that. On the other hand I don't see much point in books that are hostile to religion. Having read Dawkins and Hitchens I find that they, and Hitchens in particular, put too much blame on religion for the world's woes. Yes, Christianity has caused a lot of death and destruction, but nothing compared to that caused by greed and bigotry. What I am more interested in is a book that discusses why so many people still believe in religion. I recall reading an article some time ago that suggested that this believe actually was part of our evolution. That belief in supernatural reward and punishment in this life, and perhaps even more important in an imagined limitless afterlife (there's and oxymoron for you ), helped coerce our evolutionary ancestors into behaviors that had rewards for species survival. I would be interested in a book that provided an expanded discussion of that idea.